Building on What We Have Built Together:

A $10 Million Campaign for the Next 10 Years 

As RestoreOKC approaches its tenth year, our staff has spent a lot of time in the book of Nehemiah. For those who may not know the story, Nehemiah tells of a people returning to a community whose walls had been destroyed. We may not live in cities with literal walls, but we can understand them as structures that acted as “protective factors,” helping people live and flourish. Without them, the people who called that place home were incredibly vulnerable and easily oppressed.

About halfway through the work, the builders said something that feels familiar to us as a team: “The rubble is too much. By ourselves, we cannot do this.” I love what comes next. They regrouped, reorganized, invited others into the work, and found a different way forward.

That story feels familiar. We moved from grocery closure to COVID, to SNAP cuts, to major funding losses in 2025, and have felt a bit like “human ping pong balls” alongside our community. We are thankful to be close enough to our neighbors to understand the exhaustion that comes when protective factors are low. And we are thankful that the Lord has continued to make RestoreOKC a place of peace and practical support when that happens. 

As we approach ten years of working alongside neighbors, we can see how much has been built. We are grateful for the relationships, partnerships, and programs that have taken root, and we know there is more work ahead. Creston Park is a rare opportunity to strengthen our resilience and build an amazing foundation for all of the systems that make neighborhood flourishing possible, beginning with housing shaped by community voice and ownership.

Carrying that work forward also takes investment in the people who will steward it and in the spaces where neighbors gather, receive support, and build relationships. That is why Ten for the Next Ten includes support for our team and critical improvements to our offices and program spaces alongside investment in Creston Park.

Ten for the Next Ten is an invitation to join us in the work: to help us regroup for what is ahead, strengthen the foundation we have built together, and keep building alongside our neighbors.

WHY RestoreOKC, WHY NOW

For ten years, RestoreOKC has worked alongside neighbors in Northeast Oklahoma City. We have learned that lasting change does not come from one program or one organization. It grows when residents shape the future of their neighborhood and housing, health, education, and economic opportunity are connected where people live.

That work has taken root. Neighbors and partners have built relationships, programs, and a local network that is earning recognition well beyond Oklahoma City. In Oklahoma, we are one of 17 designated Family Resource Centers earning national recognition for being in “universal alignment with best practice” for creating the conditions for whole families to flourish. Nationally, we were invited to join the Purpose Built Communities Network, a national leader in place-based community development, making us 1 of 25 organizations selected for network membership nationally. We were 1 of 6 communities selected nationally to work with Harvard’s EdRedesign Lab, and 1 of 10 organizations selected for the Aspen Institute’s Weaver Awards.

We are also being invited into national conversations that can help shape policies affecting families and neighborhoods like ours. This past summer, the Food Systems for the Future Institute invited us to share at its national convening about the impact of SNAP policy changes. We also joined the Aspen Institute’s Rebuilding Inclusive Economies panel to talk about economic growth that does not displace residents. In September, we traveled to West Virginia as one of three presenters selected by Casey Family Programs and Annie E. Casey Foundation to advise the Council of State Governments on our upstream work to strengthen protective factors and help prevent downstream involvement with child welfare. We are humbled by these invitations and want to use the platform and moment well: to reflect the work happening here with our neighbors and help shape policy and systems beyond our own neighborhood.

Now we have an opportunity to strengthen the foundation for the next ten years through the Creston Park housing development. RestoreOKC is partnering with NEOKC Renaissance & Open Design Collective and our community advisory team to make some early investments in predevelopment, land acquisition, and infrastructure that will help unlock $5.3 million in committed public funding. RestoreOKC and a panel of community members will select the master developer, and an architect chosen by RestoreOKC will take part in community listening sessions. Neighbors will have a meaningful role in shaping who builds the project, its design, and the partners and resources involved. The early public funding will support replacement of the required HUD units after demolition, allowing the rest of the development to move forward with a mix of for-sale homes and affordable rentals.

The timing matters because key decisions about the development are being made now. With the 2028 Olympics coming to Oklahoma City and significant investment and change ahead, residents have an opportunity to shape what happens here and share in its benefits. RestoreOKC is positioned to help lead this work because we have spent ten years building relationships alongside neighbors, and because our role in the development gives community members a meaningful voice in its direction.

Changes in funding in 2025 also reminded us that long-term neighborhood work needs a stronger, more flexible foundation than restricted grants alone can provide. Ten for the Next Ten will help us meet this moment by investing in Creston Park, the people who steward this work, needed improvements to our offices and program spaces, stronger reserves, and permanent capital for community ownership.

HOW WE LEAD

That decade of faithfulness has placed RestoreOKC at a table with more opportunity than we can responsibly answer all at once; discernment is the mandate of this season. That discernment was recently tested in real time. Earlier this year, we leaned heavily into the potential transition of a major grocery anchor serving our community. We did the work, asked the hard questions, and determined that acquiring the site under its current structure was not the right fit for the stewardship of philanthropic capital. However, we stayed at the table to help negotiate an outcome that ensured the store remained open. It was a strategic win: we refused to overleverage the trust placed in us, secured a solution that protects neighborhood food access, and kept the community from moving economically backward. When the Lord does not open a door clearly, we are wise not to try to force down.

That openhandedness allowed us to pivot fully toward Creston Park when our partnership with Purpose Built Communities and our conversations with the Oklahoma City Housing Authority (OCHA) converged in a way we could not have engineered. OCHA has agreed to place the land into a permanent ground lease, effectively securing permanent community ownership, at nominal annual cost. RestoreOKC will select the master developer and serve as General Partner for the redevelopment. That role gives us the ability to help ensure neighbors have a real, meaningful role in choosing who builds the project, shaping its design, and determining which partners and resources are brought in. It also creates a path for RestoreOKC to share in the project’s long-term value, helping offset program costs for housing we master lease for participants and strengthening the organization’s ability to sustain this work.

Crucially, this agreement guarantees a right of first refusal at the end of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) compliance period (Year 16) for RestoreOKC and community partners. This structure ensures long-term control and equity remain firmly in the hands of the community, setting a national precedent for how public housing authorities can partner with neighborhoods to dismantle systemic inequities and restore the opportunity for .

What We Hope to Build at Creston Park

• Pathways to homeownership. Create opportunities for residents to buy a home, build equity, and put down lasting roots in the neighborhood.

• A mix of homes and incomes. Replace the isolation of concentrated poverty with a range of housing options, stronger infrastructure, and greater access to the amenities and opportunities that help people thrive.

• Community ownership and long-term benefit. Structure ownership and stewardship so the neighborhood and local families can share in the value created at Creston Park, rather than that value flowing only to outside investors.

• Housing connected to the rest of community life. Creston Park can bring together the homes, services, and opportunities our community needs to thrive, from early childhood centers and health clinics to space where small businesses can grow. We want the development to reflect the hopes of its residents and create a neighborhood anyone would be proud to call home.

"Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins & raise up age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings." — Isaiah 58:12

THE MOMENT WE ARE IN

In 2028, Olympic softball and canoe slalom will bring a global spotlight to Northeast Oklahoma City, the same community RestoreOKC serves, where many families have faced poverty across generations and Black households make up the largest share of the population. At the same time, MAPS 4 and other public investments are reshaping parts of our city. We have a chance to make sure this growth strengthens the people and neighborhoods already here. That means creating real pathways for residents to shape decisions, own local assets, grow businesses, access jobs, and remain in the community as it changes. The promise is not simply investment in Northeast OKC, but shared prosperity built with the people who call it home.

Northeast Oklahoma City is at an inflection point, and the window for action is concrete:

• September 2026: The RFQ is live, with applications due September 30.

• October 2026: A community panel will interview finalists and help select a master developer who will listen to residents and work alongside us.

• 2026–2027: We will acquire the land and begin Phase I: three buildings with 95 homes, fulfilling the requirement to replace the existing HUD-assisted units. Public funding for these homes is already secured. Meeting that requirement will allow the remaining development to move forward as mixed-income housing.

• 2028: Olympic softball and canoe slalom bring a global spotlight to Northeast Oklahoma City. With community ownership in place, our neighbors can share in the opportunity and the value created.

We are in a 24-month window. This campaign gives us the private capital to turn institutional commitments into lasting community ownership.

BUILT TO LAST

RestoreOKC has always believed dependency is not a good destination. In 2025, that conviction was tested when shifts in the federal funding environment created significant losses for organizations nationwide. Rather than absorb the blow and wait, we accelerated a planned structural shift.

We launched Restore Ownership, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary driving impact investment, real estate acquisition, and social enterprise revenue. This is not a departure from the mission, it is the mission. When RestoreOKC owns assets, the community owns assets. The returns stay local, and the infrastructure endures.

We have also redefined how philanthropic capital operates within this campaign. Your gift is not merely operational funding; it is the catalytic capital that de-risks the overall strategy for public and institutional partners. It serves as the private commitment required to unlock Program-Related Investments (PRI’s), mission-aligned debt, and restricted public dollars that cannot move without an initial partner. In a blended finance structure, philanthropic dollars are the most powerful leverage point in the room.

THE $10M CAMPAIGN ALLOCATION

Allocation

Housing Stabilization & Land

Cover predevelopment costs, land acquisition, and early infrastructure for Creston Park, helping unlock $5.3 million in committed development funding from Oklahoma County ARPA, GOLT, and MAPS 4 funding through the Oklahoma City Housing Authority. RestoreOKC and a community panel will select the master developer. A developer selected by community members and partners will participate in community listening sessions, helping neighbors shape the design, partners, and resources so Creston Park is integrated with the surrounding neighborhood. The early development funding will support prompt replacement of the required HUD units after demolition, allowing the remaining development to include a mix of for-sale homes and affordable rentals outside the HUD replacement-unit requirements.

$3,250,000

Campus, Farm & Facilities

Make targeted repairs and improvements to RestoreOKC’s offices and program spaces, including bathrooms, kitchen, HVAC, parking, and private meeting space for counseling, case management, and care navigation for supportive employment participants. The goal is to make the existing campus and farm work better for neighbors, volunteers, Mother Grove, and the 30-plus staff who share the office, not to undertake a major expansion.

$500,000

Board-Designated Operating Reserve

Build resilience through major funding changes and cash-flow swings. Combined with RestoreOKC’s current reserves of about three months, this allocation is intended to bring the organization to roughly nine months of operating expenses.

$3,000,000

Key People & Project Leadership

Fund critical positions and leadership capacity to steward Creston Park and the opportunities ahead. Campaign support would step down over three years, with the goal of funding new positions at 100% in year one, 50% in year two, and 25% in year three as they grow toward sustainable funding.

$750,000

Permanent Capital Position

Seed permanent capital that can be deployed and recycled over time. This capital could support asset or real estate ownership, or serve as catalytic or concessionary capital that helps bring in additional impact investment. Potential uses include early costs or first dollars in for a health clinic, early childhood center, or grocery store space, helping create long-term assets and financial resilience for RestoreOKC’s work.

$2,500,000

TOTAL

$10,000,000

Catalytic Capital Leverage

• $5.3 million in committed public funding. MAPS 4, City GOLT, City HOME, and Capital Magnet Fund dollars are committed to the development. RestoreOKC’s campaign investment will support predevelopment, land acquisition, and early infrastructure that help move those public dollars into the project.

• A development shaped with the community. RestoreOKC, NEOKC Renaissance, Open Design Collective, CEC & a panel of community members will select the master developer. An architect chosen by RestoreOKC will participate in community listening sessions so residents can help shape a design that fits the neighborhood and connects to its existing assets.

• A broader development capital stack. The master developer will assemble LIHTC equity, HUD financing, New Markets Tax Credits, conventional debt, and other sources to finance the housing. Private philanthropic capital can support important community-serving elements that these housing sources do not cover, such as ground-floor commercial space for a clinic, early childhood center, grocery, or small businesses.

• Long-term investment in the neighborhood. Purpose Built Communities developments such as 75 North in Omaha have attracted more than $100 million in investment. Creston Park creates an opportunity to bring mixed-income housing together with urban agriculture, health infrastructure, and other assets that serve the neighborhood over time.

Developer financing helps build the housing. Philanthropic & private capital helps bring community priorities, ownership, and neighborhood-serving spaces into the project.

AN INVITATION

Ten years ago, RestoreOKC set out to prove that concentrated, long-term investment in one neighborhood could change outcomes for whole families. Today the evidence is clear, and Purpose Built Communities is co-authoring a white paper documenting it. This campaign is not about launching a new vision. It is about building the ownership infrastructure that makes the vision permanent.

We are not asking you to fund a program. We are inviting you into a much larger story of setting wrong things right, a work that reflects the heart of God for people to live in wholeness, dignity, and right relationship with one another.

How to join us:

• Lead the campaign with a cornerstone gift of $1M+ toward Housing Stabilization & Land, the pillar that makes everything else possible

• Anchor a pillar with a named investment of $250K to $1M

• Become a Founding Partner with a gift of $100K+, recognized permanently as part of the community that secured Creston Park's ownership

• Build with us at any level; every dollar in this campaign is leveraged more than twice over before it touches the ground

• Bring your institution into the blended capital stack through PRIs, recoverable grants, or mission-aligned debt

Multi-year commitments are more than welcomed.

To begin a conversation, contact Caylee Dodson, Executive Director, at caylee.dodson@restoreokc.org or 405-642-0886

Will you join us?